The present invention relates to a mop squeezer or, more particularly, to an instrument for squeezing water-soaked absorbent yarns of a mop, which is easy to handle and capable of giving the squeezed mop yarns a water content most suitable for floor mopping in respect of the working efficiency.
Apart from the traditional cleaning works as a part of housekeeping, cleaning works of large buildings are usually undertaken more and more by specialized cleaning workers so that the efficiency of cleaning works considerably influences the overall costs for building maintenance. Among the various types of cleaning works of buildings, e.g., sweeping, dusting, window-pane polishing, etc., floor mopping has a very important weight so that improvement is eagerly desired in the working efficiency of floor mopping by those pertaining to the business of building maintenance.
When the floor mopping is performed with a mop having absorbent yarns wet with water, one of the factors influencing the working efficiency of floor mopping is of course in the step of squeezing of water-soaked absorbent yarns of mops and rapidness in the squeezing is essential. Besides, the working efficiency of floor mopping is greatly influenced by the water content of the mop yarns after squeezing. When the mop yarns are squeezed up too extensively to retain little water, for example, the mopping work on a floor cannot be continued before long because of the loss of lubrication between the floor and the mop yarns with a decreased water content so that the procedure of washing with water and squeezing thereof must be repeated frequently to greatly decrease the working efficiency of mopping. When the water content of the mop yarns after squeezing is too large, on the other hand, the mopping work with such a mop may result only in flooding of water over the floor and the cleaning effect inherent in mopping to wipe out and absorb the filth on the floor with the fibers of mop yarns cannot be exhibited. Thus, it is apparent that the working efficiency of floor mopping is greatly influenced by the water content of the mop yarns after squeezing so that it is eagerly desired by those having a specialized business of building maintenance to develop an efficient and convenient means by which the water content of mop yarns can be optimized easily and reproducibly.
In this regard, several types of mop squeezers have been proposed and some of them are practically used in the business of building maintenance. FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawing illustrates a perspective view of such a mop squeezer having a pair of rollers 31 and 32, of which the roller 32 is pivotally supported above an upwardly opening box 33 and the other roller 31 is movable by means of a foot pedal 34 through a link 35 to make a variable roll gap with the fixed roller 32. The roll gap between the rollers 31, 32 is the largest when the foot pedal 34 is released and the movable roller 31 is pressed against the fixed roller 32 when the foot pedal 34 is fully pressed down by foot. Thus, the mop yarns 36 are hung down between the rollers 31 and 32 making the largest roll gap therebetween with the foot pedal 34 released and then the foot pedal 34 is pressed down appropriately by foot so that the mop yarns 36 are pinched between the rollers 31, 32. In this pinched state, the mop yarns 36 are forcibly pulled up by hands holding the rod 37 of the mop so that the water soaking the mop yarns 36 is squeezed out and falls into the box 33 to make a water pool therein. A problem in the mop squeezer of this type is that the degree of squeezing or the water content of the mop yarns 36 after squeezing is totally dependent on the strength of force by which the foot pedal 34 is pressed down. When the force on the foot pedal 34 is too strong with the full body weight of the operator applied thereon, for example, the mop yarns 36 are pinched so tightly between the rollers 31, 32 that the mop rod 37 can hardly be pulled up or the water content in the squeezed mop yarns 36 is too small to ensure a good efficiency of the mopping work with the mop. When the force on the foot pedal 34 is too small, on the other hand, the mop yarns 36 are pinched between the rollers 31, 32 so loosely that the mop yarns 36 after squeezing may contain an excessively large volume of water and the cleaning efficiency with such a mop is disadvantageously low with mere flooding of water over the floor as is mentioned above.
Japanese Utility Model Publication 52-347 discloses a mop squeezer of another type in which a single freely rotatable roller is held on the ends of a pair of swingable arms fixed to a shaft pivotally supported in the upper part of an upwardly opening box like the box 33 in FIG. 1 and rotatable by means of a hand lever while a squeezer plate in a curved configuration to make a partial surface of a cylinder coaxial with the shaft supporting the swingable arms at such a position in the box that the gap between the surface of the roller and the squeezer plate is uniform when the roller is moved by the swinging motion of the swingable arms by means of the hand lever. The mop squeezers of this type, however, are not widely used in practice presumably due to several problems. For example, the mop yarns squeezed in this mop squeezer form undulation and the distribution of the water content throughout the mop yarns is not uniform to be higher in the free end portions of the yarns than in the root portions so that the working efficiency of mopping therewith cannot be high enough.